La Vie En Green: How to Live Green in Hoboken {Eco-Friendly Challenge}

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Elodie from Green-Living Blog La Vie En Green {translated French to English: the green life} is starting a new column on Hoboken Girl about how to live green and healthier in Hoboken. We figured it was the perfect time to introduce it — right at the beginning of 2014, when you can start FRESH and make some positive changes in your life. To read more about Elodie, click here!

Hello January, that time of year when we’re expected to list and commit to positive, well-regarded changes in our lives… Ever given any thoughts to green living? A rather trendy topic lately, with a good vetted-by-all ring to it. But what is it exactly about, you may ask? It happens to be the lifestyle I strive for, so here’s my take on it, for what it’s worth.Being green is about living respectfully of ourselves, others and our surroundings, with the understanding that every little step does count in making an eco-friendly change.

Now for a more concrete, real life translation, I see this lifestyle revolving around 4 ideas. And because realism beats perfection, it is always on a “as much as possible” basis:

* Eating healthy foods

* Preserving our health

* Protecting the environment

* Rethinking / reducing / re-using / recycling things

Some may think it’s a fad. I believe it is a meaningful, qualitative, feel good lifestyle.

What if I told you that many of us are already green but just don’t realize it… Starting to sound like a nice good-doing, achievable item to add to your 2014 list? See for yourself, and if you’re not exactly on the green side of things but getting into it as you read, you’ll see how easy it is to take the little leap that’ll put you right on that green path.

– Hoboken, or living in a city where solutions to most of our needs can be found at walking distance from home, is the perfect setting to green living. If you walk to run errands, you pollute less than if you drive–and that small individual but regular green contribution does matter and adds up with time. Walking also actively benefits your health, especially if like many, you struggle to squeeze in (more) exercising time into your always packed schedule. Now if you typically drive in Hoboken, no matter how far or close you’re going, this might just be an easy double win to consider. Give it a try, at “worst”, you’ll have given yourself a healthy TLC session!

– As you go out and about in the one-mile square, chances are you bring along water with you. If you happen to own a reusable bottle (of all options, glass and stainless steel are safest), you’re in! If not, remember that plastic bottles may leach toxic chemicals into your beverage (especially hot ones). And you already know that single-use, disposable plastic bottles aren’t exactly Earth-friendly. Another easy double health-planet win for a minimal investment that will more than pay back, in no time…

Do you know that if you have water handy, you’ll drink more? So forget about plastic bottles, just go with stainless steel… and glowing skin!

– Now if grabbing a drink somewhere is part of your trip, think about bringing your own tumbler. Same rationale as above: Stainless steel (or ceramic) hands down beats both plastic or plastic-lined cardboard cups, and reusing is king. Every drink is the occasion to spare the landfills from one disposable cup being thrown out. And if you’re already part of the BYO tribe, you probably know some places offer a discount for bringing your own container. If you didn’t, you now have three good reasons to consider this!

I prefer hot drinks in a ceramic container so I brought my own mug at Bwe Kafe and got my coffee poured in it, no biggie…

– Grocery shopping at the nearby stores and supermarkets? If you bring your own bags instead of accepting the store’s paper or plastic ones, you’re in! If not, you likely own some of those promotional reusable bags we all have at home… By simply putting them to work, you’ll greatly help reduce tremendously damaging plastic waste that’s hard-to-recycle and slow-to-degrade. Just, say, 5 plastic grocery bags per week, turn into over 250 bags per year! That’s how much your footprint can go down in a cinch. And if you walk to the store (wink wink), you’ll quickly appreciate the comfort of cloth bags over the arm-cutting plastic ones!

I’ve been using some of these reusable grocery bags every week for well over 10 years and got all of them for free. So easy to be green!

– A fan of socials and events? There are sooo many options always available in Hoboken: cooking, sewing, art, music, yoga, any types of classes, DIY workshops, or on a less commercial note, food swap events, clothing swap parties. {Editor’s note: Make sure to check the HG events page for some greatideas!}

Well, joining friends or meeting new people around the idea of learning and exchanging new skills to make our own things totally qualifies as green in my books. It is teaching to and learning from others to create your own vs. always buying already made things. There is typically less packaging involved… and isn’t laughter one of the best natural medicines against… everything really?

Socials are really en vogue in Hoboken and such a fun way to learn new DIY skills (soy candles here) while meeting new people… Hello quality me-time!

See? Being green is not just for hippie, out-of-this-world tree-huggers. It is about choosing the green way for all the choices we make every day. Totally 2014 resolution-worth material! Some may require a tweak in existing habits, but so many are no brainers… a look at your daily routine will likely show you green choices you’re already making, as well as opportunities to include more of them into it. Add that feel-good vibe you may get from doing eco-friendly things, and your eco-conscious touch will soon feel like second nature to you.

Elodie is a former corporate brand marketer who recently brought her passion for healthy living to life by creating La Vie En Green. At www.lavieengreen.com, you’ll find educational topic-oriented content, major green news curation, and easy eco-conscious ways to adopt a safer, greener, healthier lifestyle that better cares for yourself, others, and the environment. Sign up for her newsletter about all things eco-friendly HERE!

Jen is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Hoboken Girl. She started the site to discover and share the wealth of things happening in Hudson County. Her roots in the area extend to her maternal grandparents, who owned two textile factories in Weehawken and North Bergen. When not planning the next Hoboken Girl event/volunteer project or editing her life away, she can usually be found shopping at local boutiques, eating an Insta-worthy meal, walking her French bulldog + rescue pup, or watching the latest murder doc on Netflix with her husband.